March Snapshots

It's hard to believe that it's halfway through March and we have yet to do anything really exciting. I guess we have school and the boards to thank for that. I have been super busy with schoolwork, so I am ready for us to do something fun for a change.

Well, until I can actually take a breather from schoolwork and have a little adventure (stay tuned - it will be Easter weekend), here are some pictures from around the house.

Sometimes Emma is so strange...

Here she wedged her nose in between the couch and Amit's head...

 (She stayed there for longer than 30 seconds...

it's rare, I know.)

Honestly, we had no idea what she was doing here...

This is what I get to see when getting ready to do situps.

I love those ears!

(The red thing is her Christmas toy,

Amit was messing with her.)

Enjoying Daddy's guitar skills.

Squirrel!

And last, but not least...

I took this one while doing my homework.

What a life!

 

I think I posted enough pictures for now... It's time for me to go sit in the sun, enjoy the 78 degree weather, and get some studying done!

My Gift for Grayson

Our latest addition to the group was a great excuse to go buy some adorable fabric and try out a new (more complicated than what I am used to) sewing project. I keep finding the cutest dress tutorials online, so I decided to try one out for Graysie. I used this Pillowcase Dress tutorial from Prudent Baby , but changed it up by adding bias tape.

I had a few "issues" throughout my sewing, most likely due to my lack of sewing knowledge, but I am SO excited at how it turned out! Here's how it went:

Emma is so excited for baby Grayson,

that she just HAD to help make the pattern.

I made my own bias tape to match the dress.

I followed this tutorial  

and only had to remeasure my lines a few times.

,

My bias tape hanging out on my 

Schoolhouse Rock DVD.

I listened to it while I sewed, so I could "study". 

 Then came sewing time...

Sides together.

Bias tape around the hem and the arm holes.

Wow. 

Still can't believe I got all those lines so straight!

 

Grayson's navy and pink dress!
It's in the mail and heading to Florida -
hope they like it as much as I do!

I am still in shock that I managed to make this! It took me quite a while, but I had so much fun. I have a feeling I will have many more gifts for Graysie by the time I actually meet her... This whole "sewing for a sweet, beautiful, baby girl" thing is addicting!

Welcome, Grayson!!

She's here! Grayson Rose arrived at 7:37 this morning, weighing 8 pounds 6.9 ounces. Jeremy and Maggie are doing well, hopefully resting right now! It's still hard to believe that there is a baby in the group! We're so blessed to consider these two family and now even MORE blessed that Grayson is here!

The next time we take a picture like this one,

there will be 5 of us in it!

 Thanks to the magic of Facebook -

here are pictures of Grayson 

for those of you who can't see them!

 What a cutie!!!!!

 

Now we just have to hang in there until we can actually cuddle with her! Welcome to the group, Grayson! Be prepared to be surrounded by love until you're spoiled rotten! I'll teach you how to love your crazy uncles, too, even when they get a tad bit intense while playing Monopoly.

Culinary Adventures

We have decided to get a little more adventurous in the kitchen over the last few weeks... Pinterest has been a HUGE source of inspiration and our favorite Food Network show is back with a new season, so the possibilities are endless! Cue the drool...

We tried a copy cat recipe from this site; the salsas were pretty good, but we were disappointed in the chicken. Luckily, we found a barbacoa recipe on Boston.com, so we'll be trying that one next week! I think the best recipe we've tried was this recipe for Lemon Cilantro Quinoa and Chickpea Salad. It makes a ton of food and worked as my lunch all week. Yum! Amit loved the Baked Pesto Chicken that I made Friday night. We added some homemade garlic bread, and it was perfect!

Hungry yet?

Now on to even better food! (Hard to believe, right??) We LOVE watching The Sandwich King on Food Network. He makes amazing sandwiches, is a true Chicagoan, and throws homemade Giardiniera on everything. Awesome! We tried his recipe for meatloaf sandwiches and they were amazing! His meatloaf was unreal, it is now my go-to meatloaf recipe.

Delicious!

Next on our list is his recipe for Italian Beef! I'm hoping and prayin' that it is almost as good as the real thing... That would be awesome! 

Happy March!

It's hard to believe it's March 1st already... even harder to believe that I get to celebrate by having a snow day! The "storm" hit yesterday afternoon, we only got an inch of snow here. Near work, they were expecting 6-10 inches between yesterday and today, when the snow is supposed to stop. We'll see how much they actually got when I go back tomorrow.

I decided to take a break from studying to do a little crafting. On Saturday night, the boys went to a dental debate, so Mel, Kirsten, and I hung out and I tried out some new earrings. I found the tutorial from here on Pinterest.

All you have to do is open your paperclip,

wrap embroidery floss around the paperclip,

and then from side to side.

Et voila! 

Gorgeous earrings!

I made a pair in teal on Saturday and I love them! Next up - metallic or sparkly embroidery floss... Those will be awesome! I also had time to make more flowers for Grayson. I haven't worked out the final details on how I'm going to put them on the hair clips or headbands, but this was a good start! I followed this tutorial for the most part and I think they look cute!

Fabric flowers!

I'm really excited to finish my other projects this weekend and get them all wrapped up and ready to send to Grayson! It was nice to have a bonus day to work on my projects! Let's hope that I don't have to many "oops" sewing photos to take this weekend!